The use and handling of medical needle and syringe assemblies are well-known in the art. In this regard, such devices play a vital role in modern healthcare practice by virtue of their simple mechanical means for injecting or withdrawing fluids.
Despite their immense practicality, however, serious issues continue to exist with respect to the proper handling and disposal of such devices, and more particularly the needle or style portion thereof. As is well-known, once the needle has been exposed to bodily fluids there is thus created a substantial risk that such exposed needle portion will contain infective microbiological agents. More notably and commonly associated with these blood-borne diseases are AIDS and hepatitis B. which have the capability to infect an individual via an inadvertent needle-stick experience.
To minimize the risk of a needle-stick experience, capping devices, and in particular needle caps, are used in combination with needle and syringe assemblies to provide a protective covering over the needle portion thereof once the same has come into contact with bodily fluids. According to current practice, such capping devices are removed and subsequently replaced upon the exposed needle portion, often repeatedly, until the medical procedure is completed.
Following use of a given needle and syringe assembly, such needle portion, by virtue of its having come into contact with bodily fluids, must be disposed of through special handling procedures. Perhaps the most well-known and commonly utilized device to address the problem posed by the disposal of contaminated needles is referred to as the sharps container. Such device typically comprises a container having a port formed thereon into which a contaminated needle is inserted. A pair of scissors formed upon the container is designed and oriented to provide a cutting action across the portal entry to thus clip the needle portion off and thereafter safely house the same within the container.
While the sharps container and other similar devices are effective in removing and isolating contaminated needles and other contaminated sharps, substantial issues arise when attempting to separate and dispose of contaminated needles and other contaminated sharps from the capping devices with which they are used. In this regard, such capping devices must necessarily be utilized with such contaminated needles and sharps to provide a necessary protective covering over such contaminated sharps when the latter is not in use. As is well-recognized, such capping devices further the important goal of minimizing needle-stick experiences, and thus reduce the transmission of blood-borne diseases. However, the use of such capping devices with contaminated sharps has resulted in the concurrent disposal of both the capping device and the contaminated sharp, which are frequently disposed while interconnected to one another.
Recent changes in the law, however, have now prohibited the concurrent disposal of needles with needle caps while the same are interconnected. Indeed, strict fines and penalties are imposed for those healthcare providers and organizations that specifically fail to properly dispose of contaminated needles separate and apart from the caps used therewith. While systems have been developed, namely, needleless-type syringe systems, such systems are expensive and have not been well-received in the medical community. Additionally, such needless systems still necessarily employ the use of needles as is necessary to establish an intravenous connection.
In addition to the problems posed by proper isolation and disposal of contaminated needles and the capping devices used therewith has been the problem of organizing the use of multiple needle and syringe assemblies during a given medical procedure. In this respect, a wide variety of medical procedures often necessitate the use of multiple needle/syringe assemblies. For example, a variety of drugs may need to be administered throughout a given procedure. However, there currently does not exist any recognized apparatus or method for organizing the use of multiple needle/syringe assemblies. Rather, common practice typically comprises nothing more than arranging such needle/syringe assemblies upon a medical tray with the health care practitioner doing nothing more than grabbing the appropriate syringe assembly therefrom. Such technique, however, is exceptionally prone to disorganization and can actually increase the risk of a needle-stick experience insofar as improper orientation of such needle/syringe assemblies, and more particularly the needle portion thereof, can and often does come into close contact with the hands of the healthcare provider.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus for holding medical needles and syringes that enables the same to be used for a given procedure and thereafter provides means for substantially reducing the risk that the contaminated needle portion is disposed along with the cap with which it had been used. There is additionally a need in the art for a method and apparatus for holding medical needle and syringe assemblies that facilitates and provides means for organizing the use thereof during a given medical procedure. There is still further a need in the art for a method and apparatus for holding medical needle and syringe assemblies that is easy to use, may be easily and readily utilized with virtually all types of needle and syringe devices, is of simple construction, is space efficient, and inexpensive to manufacture.